balcony plant
IdaWednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Strangely Chaste
Thanks to the energetic efforts of an ex-preacher, I arrived last night at "raw" Palembang.
Mud-caked karaoke bar, rough looking patrons pouring, literally pouring out their hearts to the karaoke screen, something about "I'll meet you in Massachusetts when the skies are clear." - never heard of the tune, but it was in English, as were all of the karaoke monopolizer's songs, let's call him Massachussetts.
I'm guessing his English skills were restricted to the bar's karaoke playlist. But it was nice to hear him sing. He had a nice voice actually. Gruff and full of feeling.
Massachusetts, was maybe sixty, smoking like a chimney, a real rough look in his eye and missing his two front teeth, but laid it down like an Asian Luther Vandross.
****
We were sitting across from him and his crew. I was there with a group of 10. 8 guys 1 girl and me.
The girls for hire, "hostesses," swamped around us pulling up chairs beside all of the guys and I was left in peace.
After a while one of the girls decided that since all of the guys were taken, she might as well try to get me to buy her a drink.
She was very friendly to me until she found out that I had forgotten my wallet at home. Then I didn't see her anymore. Felt a little bit what it must feel like to be a guy.
***
Asked a married guy why he let himself be sidled up to the way he was. He told me he feels bad to turn the girls away "I don't want to make them upset," he said. So he sits like a statue as they move in close and hold his hands.
Despite everything it's strangely chaste though. At the end of the night -- when the fluorescent lights come on -- the guys leave, the hostesses get paid out, and everyone parts as if they've never met.
Like the whole evening was a pantomime taking place in a parallel universe and the crazy glare of those overhead lights is the wormhole back to reality.
****
On a slightly unrelated note. I saw a really nice motorcycle last night. It belonged to a guy in our party. This really sweet narcoleptic policeman.
The bike was sleek yet rugged. It looked vintage, black with flames painted on the side. It cut a really nice line in the dusty streets. Like a comic book or something.
They wanted me to ride on the back from one place to another but I was wearing a long dress and politely declined. The policeman and his friend insisted I could ride side saddle like an Indonesian girl, but all that kept running through my head was Isadora Duncan, Isadora Duncan. . .maybe next time when I'm wearing my skinny jeans.
It was a really nice bike.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Love Box
Just got a love box from Meditation Mama and it has everything I wanted. . .
4 bags of pretzels (rods, thins, sticks, and those little cross hatched kind)
All Quiet on the Western Front DVD (the silent one)
Assorted animal finger puppets (walrus, lion, owl, panda)
Asian-esque pouch
PEPPERMINT TEA!!!
Some strange stuffed animal fridge magnets
And my own personal Enlightenment Notebook with blessings from a yogi in Upstate New York
Love Love Love
Saturday, June 26, 2010
CHAI DAY
Saturday's Chai Day.
Well everyday's chai day actually, it's my morning ritual. But Saturday's the day I share. One JUMBO cup for me and one normal cup for Ida.
Ida's the housekeeper. She comes by Monday-Saturday from 8am-12pm. I sometimes share during the week too. But it depends on my mood. More often than not I try to get up before 8am, make my chai, and ferret it back up to my room so that I don't feel guilty about not sharing. Terrible.
Ida get's a small cup because we can't communicate and I'm not sure if she likes it. It's possible that she dumps it out when I turn away and I hate to think of all that good chai wasted.
Second, I think very few people outside of the U.S. are into consuming such large amounts of beverage at one time.
Third, I am greedy when it comes to chai (maybe this should be #1).
Oh yeah, that little USB thing in the picture at the beginning is how I connect to the internet here. It's the modem. I click it in to my computer and log on. I press this button that says START and it keeps track of my time. I've got 65 hours each month.
Friday, June 25, 2010
PLEASURE-SEEKERS and BROAD MINDED HUSBANDS
This post is actually not about pleasure-seekers. I don’t think it is anyway. Just that I woke up this morning and started reading, and as I read, I read the word pleasure-seeking and it got stuck on some spoke in my brain. . .round and round it goes. Nice word anyway, very precise no?
****
What I really want to post about is Cherline.
I came across Cherline yesterday as I was wallowing in a muddy puddle of negativity (too much thinking about philandering husbands and girls for hire). Cherline was whistling to herself and tucking her veil into her sweater. (Side note: we’re experiencing a cold front, 75 degrees.)
Cherline and I got to talking about her boyfriend and what that was like.
“How did you meet?” I asked.
“He’s a friend of my friend. They go to the same college.”
“When do you guys meet up?” I asked. “You live with your parents, right?”
“Yeah. We can meet during the day,” Cherline replied. “On the weekend before 7pm. Or he can come over and watch movies at my house and chat.”
Cherline told me that sometimes she feels that at the age of 21 she wants to be treated more like an adult. “I’m like an adult, right?” Cherline asked me.
I nodded.
Her parents are a bit stricter than others but she assures me that her situation is pretty much the norm.
“You’ll never move out of your parents’ house and live on your own before you’re married?”
Cherline opened her eyes real wide. “No! Never.”
Cherline is sweet and good-natured. She just graduated from college with a major in English and her speaking is excellent. We talked a little bit about the stuff I posted yesterday, homebound wives and that.
Cherline laughed and rolled her eyes as if to say, “It is what it is.”
“My mother for example.” Cherline said. “ She can’t go anywhere without asking my father’s permission. And my father, he often says no. She has to stay home and clean and cook for the children. No choice.
When my father does allow her to leave the house, he must accompany her.”
“But you get to leave the house alone.”
“Yeah.”
“Then when you get married, you can make your own rules.”
Cherline laughed. “ No. Then my husband is like the father.”
Cherline and I sat and smiled at each other for an absurd moment.
“That’s why I want to find a husband who is broad minded.” Cherline said. “ I must find a broad minded husband.”
“You will.” I smiled.
“Yeah, I think so.” Cherline agreed.
****
I asked Cherline what the average Indonesian thinks of girls who do move out. Cherline told me that the average Indonesian thinks that those girls are bad girls.
“But,” she continued, “some girls don’t care what other people think and they just want to get away from their parents. So they get an apartment with their friends anyway.”
Not Cherline though.
“What do you think of us?” I asked, pointing to my chest.
“Oh, you!” Cherline laughed as if I were asking her to compare bunny rabbits and gorillas. Well, they both have fur. . .right. . .and two eyes. . .and a brain. . .and a heart of course. “You’re not like us.” Cherline said. “You’re different.”
Thursday, June 24, 2010
SELF STORAGE KARAOKE
As I sit here in my air-conditioned perch, I see that I have more to tell you all about than I initially thought. I suppose I’ll just keep flowing with it until I’m all flowed out.
So today. . . SELF STORAGE KARAOKE.
This can be officially put down as gossip since I havn't been there myself but if portly Englishmen are to be believed. . . .
STEP 1: Enter Karaoke joint and select a companion from one of the many girls standing at the entrance. The price is $100,000 rupiah (approx $10) for company during your stay. Anything else may be negotiated directly with your companion. If you are out for status you might want to try renting 2 girls for the evening to chat with you and eat your French fries.
STEP 2: Find your Karaoke room. This could be one of many along the long hallways of garages, identical to a self-storage palace.
STEP 3: Relax on the couches provided in your cement storage unit with your brand new girlfriends and sing your heart out -- doors rattle shut, closing you, your friends, your cigarette smoke, and your terrible singing inside. Every unit has an air conditioner so you don't die of suffocation.
*****
WHY ? ? ?
Seems like since most women here stay at home and venture out with their husbands only during the day or for weddings, it’s very normal for men to hang out with girls for hire on a regular basis.
In Jakarta, the capital city, things are a bit more complex and nuanced. Women have a greater degree of mobility there and society is much more progressive. However, here, in the relative backwaters of Indonesia. . .not so.
According to my informant many of these Indonesian wives who stay at home fulfilling their duties to their husbands and families are winding up with AIDS thanks to their husbands’ extracurricular activities.
It might just be me but I don’t really see the draw of sitting around all night and doing whatever with someone you’re PAYING to be nice to you. I guess boredom and lack of imagination make people do all sorts of things.
While I’m on a roll, divulging the jolly Englishman’s gossip, here’s a list of other tidbits he passed along during our short car ride together.
- If you get a woman pregnant you must marry her or the police will arrest you.
- Foreigners cannot own land in Indonesia unless they have a HUGE amount of money (even by Occidental standards) to bribe with.
- The penalty for _______________(you guess) is imprisonment or having your hand cut off.
Yes, a wealth of information.
*****
On a parting note. . .
I was thinking about our little toddler friend Ardi last night and about how people come from all around Indonesia just to see him smoke. He's becoming a proper little freak show isn't he. Which inevitably got me thinking about the VENUS HOTTENTOT in a melancholy sort of way.
http://icarusfilms.com/new99/hottento.html
Over and Out,
Tuesday
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Smoking Baby
For those of you who haven't met him yet. Ardi is two years old and smokes 40 cigarettes each day. . .
Go to YouTube and search Indonesian Smoking Baby to find him.
He is right here in South Sumatra. Supposedly he is cutting back but, since he's been smoking since 18 months it is not easy. Ardi is seriously addicted and his mother cries at the terrors, tantrums, and convulsions that happen when her son is denied his smokes.
Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, his health is deteriorating quickly. He has trouble getting around on his own without the assistance of his toy truck. The government has promised to buy the family a new car if they get Ardi to quit. So far, no luck.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
STAY TUNED. . .
I am here.
Palembang, Indonesia.
The daily grind is nothing to write home about but am planning my first expedition north in early September. Stay tuned. . .
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